COOKIN' WITH CAKE: Dry Ice Extraction

By: YellowJuanaCake

Dry ice kief extraction is a great way to obtain cooking material to get you started with some high quality canna-cooking. Kief, also sometimes referred to as ‘pollen’, is the fine crystal/grainy/sugary coating you see on the green material of the flowers. It is where much of the medicine in the plant resides and can be easily extracted.

You can obtain dry ice at most grocery stores, if you can’t find it, go to the local ice distributor, they’re bound to have some.

The silkscreen material took a bit of looking into on my part. I’m just on too tight a budget to afford a set of water extraction bags. Not even the inexpensive ones, so I had to find an alternative to fit my purse’s capacity. I searched for silkscreen and was able to find many resources. This is the one I settled on: Ryonet Silkscreen Supplies

First though, I had to decide what size mesh I would purchase. USA mesh and European micron sizes are different. Of course, we are familiar with micron size in the cannabis community and finding silkscreen measured by micron in the US is near to impossible. At any rate, I used this chart to help me decide what size to get: Mesh to Micron Conversion Chart I ordered the 74 mesh (which puts my micron size somewhere between 210 and 177) for $9.76 and with shipping, the total was less than $20. I have enough to make at least a dozen squares like you see in these pictures from the one piece of material I bought.

I will likely also purchase another sheet in the next smaller size as not all strains have the same size trichomes and eventually, I’ll have a way to grade the material and refine this process based on the strain I’m working with and the size of those specific trichomes.

These are my tools, along with some dry ice

Cannabis and dry ice in the plastic Folger's can

This is where I’ll go ahead and put that lid back on the can and just shake it for a few minutes. I am gentle, so as not to break up the dry cannabis material too much, but also, because I don’t want to get worn out from working too hard. LOL Okay, so anyway, you’re gonna just shake the bucket for a few minutes, until you feel like all the cannabis has had a chance to come in contact with the dry ice and the trichomes are ready to jump off the plant and out of the bucket. As you’re doing this, you can just know that the dry ice will be melting back into it’s gaseous form and you may need to release pressure or the lid will pop off your bucket and scare the cat. And also, the first time it happened to me I spilled a bunch of weed when I jumped. So, as you’re gently shaking, just go ahead and hold the edge of the lid open every few shakes to let the gas escape. I have decided I’ll just pop a few holes in the lid to prevent this from happening in the future.

One other word of caution, if you haven’t already burned yourself on accident, you should be wearing gloves while handling the dry ice, and even while shaking the container. Dry ice is -200 degrees and will burn you with severe cold. Believe it . . . take care!

Folger's can with silkscreen material affixed

Turn the can over and shake out the frozen kief

Stop shaking if you see green in your kief.

Collect your kief!

For more great cannabis recipes visit Cookin' With Cake! where you'll also be able to order a copy of her latest book.

You can order your copy of YellowJuana Cake’s Cookbook today for $14.95 and shipping is free! The 48 page b&w book includes instructional information on infusion and extraction methods used in cannabis cooking, recipes, dosing guidelines and tips and tricks for DIY easy to prepare store meals.

NEWS: Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine Trial: It's a Kangaroo Courtroom

There's a reason why the marijuana-selling trial of Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, the former owners of a pair of Long Beach cannabis collectives, is unfolding in Long Beach Superior Court's Department K. The letter, as Judge Judith Meyer (who last month referred the case to Judge Charles Sheldon) once drew laughs for explaining, stands for that lovable bouncy rodent from Down Under: the kangaroo.

As jokes go, it's not that funny, though: As the first week in Byron and Grumbine's trial in Sheldon's courtroom draws to a close today, it's becoming rapidly clear the robe-wearing octogenarian isn't exactly worried about appearing overwhelmingly biased against the two defendants.

First of all, Sheldon denied the two Joes their right to mention medical marijuana in their defense. This prevented their attorneys from sending subpoenas to witnesses who could testify they were following state law, which, in California, allows patients to smoke marijuana for medical reasons and to establish collectives to grow the plants. But thanks to a ruling last week by the California Court of Appeal, Sheldon was left with no choice but to allow such witnesses to testify.

On Monday, when confronted with this ruling, however, Sheldon refused a follow-up motion by the defense to delay the trial for a week so defense lawyers Alison Margolin and Christopher Glew could get ahold of those previously off-limits witnesses. No dice, ruled Sheldon, who insisted the trial start right away. It's been all downhill from there. According to court observers and the blog of the activist group The Human Solution, Sheldon has ruled against almost every defense objection, including ones in which prosecution witnesses were rambling onstage without answering any pending question, in which cases Sheldon simply instructs prosecutors to pose a question so that the witness can keep going.

Today, Sheldon went so far as to order a screen erected between the jury and the audience to prevent jurors (some of whom observers have already been noticed rolling their eyes at Sheldon) from seeing audience members, most of whom support the two defendants.

Supporters have been protesting the trial for weeks now, gathering every morning at 8 on the courthouse steps. The protests--and the trial itself--are scheduled to resume Monday morning.

Source: OC Weekly